We all see a lot of mutual fund advertisements on television and most of us wonder how these things work. I was so very fortunate to work in a company which is at the zenith of Mutual Funds and Financial Services.
My internship at Fidelity gave me an opportunity to be in the IT capital of our country. On the very first day, induction was planned for all the interns during which we got to know about the company as well as our fellow interns. We were assigned to our teams soon after. I was to work with the Financial Planning and Analysis team which was in a way application of the Corporate Finance I had in the curriculum. The first week was full of learnings where I got to know the work and the various processes followed by the finance team. Later in the week, I was assigned to my project which at the first glance looked like a steep mountain that I had to climb.
I started my work with trepidation but soon I got to know that the resources I thought to be limited were actually infinite. The seniors and the team members with their vast knowledge base helped me with the project as well as gave me a prevue of alternate avenues which I could explore. I made progress step by step which turned to leaps and finally came up with what was expected out of me and the project. Seeing the results I achieved I was quite astonished by the amount of work which can be done with dedicated attention and focus.
My internship was not ‘all work and no play’. My learnings were not only restricted to my project. I participated in Fidelity Cares, a CSR initiative where I interacted with numerous kids, taught them and learned from them at the same time. It also helped me interact with company employees across functions which helped me understand the nuances of businesses Fidelity operates in. We had numerous team outings with the close knitted Finance team which made me realise how working together as a team can give such amazing results. Playing table tennis in spare time, having casual conversations with the seniors over coffee were enriching and gave me a lot of perspectives.
The highlight of my internship has to be the final presentation to the Finance Leadership Team where I presented my work and was appreciated. I put almost all the learnings from my one year of study into the presentation and it made me realise that this was what I had been trained for in the past one year, how to give your best even in the most intense of situations.
My Summer Internship experience at Fidelity was astounding and it was indeed the perfect place to invest my time and get the maximum learnings, not only with regards to my project but also in honing my managerial and leadership skills, learning from the stalwarts, the Senior Finance Leadership Team at Fidelity. The learnings will remain with me forever and aid me in growing professionally.